squills, pl n Sea onions (the dried bulb of white varieties of a plant of the lily family, formerly used in medicine); scilla (any of a genus of low, bulbous, perennial plants of the lily family, grown for their blue, pink, or white, bell-shaped flowers)
page 148, The Hidden by Tobias Hill
“An ouzo carafe full of spring squills.”

parturient, adj Giving birth or about to give birth to young; of childbirth; on the point of coming forth with a discovery, idea, etc.
page 153, The Hidden by Tobias Hill
“The parturient curves of amphorae.”

schist, n Any of a group of metamorphic rocks containing parallel layers of flaky materials, as mica or talc, and splitting easily into thin, parallel leaves
page 163, The Hidden by Tobias Hill
“The hole in which he stood was an inverted ziggurat, the broad floor of the Mycenaean room cut out in the middle to reveal its foundations; the largest of the foundation stones — two solid slabs of schist — laid carefully to one side, revealing a shaft grave beneath.”

shagreen, n Rawhide with a rough, granular surface, made from the skin of the horse, seal, etc.; the hard, rough skin of a shark or dogfish, used as a polisher
page 185, The Hidden by Tobias Hill
“A Damask blade with a scabbard of shagreen and lacustrine velvet.”

lacustrine, adj Of or having to do with a lake or lakes; found or formed in lakes
page 185, The Hidden by Tobias Hill
“A Damask blade with a scabbard of shagreen and lacustrine velvet.”

eugenics, pl n The movement devoted to improving the human species through the control of hereditary factors in mating
page 197, The Hidden by Tobias Hill
“Firstly, they inculcated fear: but Sparta also made use of eugenics among its own people, and its Hidden will have brought to their homicides a eugenic understanding of what it was they undertook.”I had this one right, but I was guessing.

unmixed wine, n Undiluted, neat [Ancient Greeks and Romans considered it barbaric to drink wine neat.]
page 198, The Hidden by Tobias Hill
“Part of a Spartan child’s education was to watch a helot humiliated by being forced to drink unmixed wine.”The words, in this case, weren’t confusing, but I wanted to understand why is this was humiliating.

nympholept, n One who longs passionately for the unattainable
page 204, The Hidden by Tobias Hill
“And you’re a classic nympholept.”I was familiar with the prefix, but didn’t understand or know the suffix; defined in the text.

noctilucent, adj Shining in the night, said especially of high-altitude clouds that reflect twilight to the earth long after sunset or long before sunrise
page 210, The Hidden by Tobias Hill
“The trees a noctilucent silver.”I didn’t know there was a word for this!